WAYNESVILLE, Ohio (WKRC) – A local woman’s attempt to fulfill her father’s Christmas wish turned into a heartbreaking ordeal when her Ticketmaster account was compromised and she was left without tickets to a popular event.

Dawn Schroeder had bought tickets to the Trans-Siberian Orchestra for her father, who is battling stage four lung and liver cancer. She hoped to create a lasting memory as this Christmas might be their last time together. However, on the day of the event, she discovered that the tickets had been stolen without her permission and debited from her account.

“My father has stage four lung and liver cancer,” Schroeder said. “It was devastating, just devastating that this might be his last Christmas with me and for this to happen.”

Despite spending hours on the phone with Ticketmaster, she received no refund or replacement tickets, missing the event and the opportunity to share an important memory with her father.

“For me, that experience is gone,” said Schroeder. “If my dad dies in three to six months, I’ll have lost that whole experience, and I think Ticketmaster needs to do better for its customers.”

Ticketmaster has faced similar complaints from other customers, although the company maintains that a third-party breach earlier this year did not compromise passwords. They attribute the problem to customers not using strong enough passwords. Ticketmaster said less than a tenth of a percent of its customers were affected and that it had implemented additional security measures, including multi-factor authentication and password resets.

The company said it would reimburse the woman for the lost tickets.

Be careful when purchasing tickets from Ticketmaster, especially as a gift for the holidays. It is recommended that you use strong, unique passwords and change them frequently, especially in the 72 hours before an event.